I was at the start of the computer generation; they were just being put into schools, and just forming the formal writing guidelines for a paper that was printed as opposed to written
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Holy shit! I mean, I know that things are bad in the public school system and their funding, but geez... I'm half tempted to call Webster and see if he'll donate. That's just... Wow. I understand not having money for computers, but for dictionaries?
Some of us are pathetic spellers no matter what, unfortunately. I think I swing it pretty well, but the spell check feature on FireFox is a godsend to me, and I aced every single one of my spelling tests in grade school. It just comes to some people more naturally than others. If she uses t9 to spell her texts correctly... hey, whatever works. At least she's making an effort to actually spell out words instead of using the brain busting netspeak every other teenager seems to use now
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While I agree that it's better than netspeak, there's really no excuse for not being able to spell words one would commonly use text messaging. Doing it to avoid typos? Okay. But for not knowing how to spell the words? I mean, we're talking under 3 syllables here! Writing an essay, a story, a blog... Okay, you can get thrown some tough words and have a bigger inner-thesaurus than you do an inner-dictionary. But not knowing how to spell things people text? Come on now. I guess I'm just tired of people (not talking about you) being like, "It's totally the effort that counts!" and letting issues pass by and giving out undeserved grades for fear of hurting someone's self esteem
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God this turned into a novella... sorry about that. You bring the verbose side of me out to play every time we talk. :P
I am sincerely glad for you that you were blessed with a natural ability to know how things are spelled. Really, I am. My mother is like that; basically a human dictionary. There are many normal people, though, who are not, myself included. I have misspelled two and three syllable words many, many times, no matter how commonly they are used. I didn't slack in school and I am most certainly not lazy or unintelligent, but the way you worded that makes me feel more than a bit dumb for being guilty of it. Just because you can do it easily doesn't mean that everyone else can. I never said anything about handing out undeserved grades for effort, either. I loathe that trend
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My basic point was that the girl in question was using t9 texting for the purpose of making sure she was spelling things correctly so she could (I assume) sound like an intelligent person. I don't see what's wrong with that and I even identify with her because I commonly have to pause and check myself (or FireFox checks for me when I've guessed a spelling incorrectly) when I spell common words. It's not because I didn't pay attention in school, and it's not because I never "learned how to spell instead of using spell check". I'm an intelligent person. I maintained a 4.0+ all through high school and a 3.86 in college, had all the academic awards and honors, blah blah blah... I just can't spell all that well. And again, I'm not talking about the extremes like our exes who are ridiculously horrendous at it. I just mean people who are intelligent and paid attention in school but just aren't talented when it comes to spelling. Maybe I'm just being optimistic, but I don't believe spell check is a crutch for the majority of
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I allow for using spell check to rule out typoes or blunders, but I have also noticed that the number of people who use correct spelling has declined from the time I went to school. My theory is that they no longer have to know how to spell.
Nobody these days writes by hand any more and when you have a computer, you have spell check, online dictionaries and the likes withing easy reach, so you don't have to memorize the correct spelling. Sometimes you don't even care because you are writing in an informal way and the recipient doesn't even care if what you write is spelled correctly. Case in point: netsqueakspeak.
It's the same with mental arithmetic. Nobody does it anymore, because every school kid has a pocket calculator or a cellphone to do the math for them.
These days you no longer have to memorize information, you just have to know how to find it.
Exactly. I really find it sad. I swear, if I have a child I'm going to start them on Your Baby Can Read as soon as they're old enough and continue teaching the proper spelling of things, even if I have to assign them homework above and beyond what the school gives them.
It's one thing when people try and just have trouble retaining the info. It's another when they don't even put in effort because everything is handed to them. Granted, I took as little math in school as possible, but you better believe I know enough to get me through each and every day.
Yeah, I believe that encouraging kids to read is the best way to help them develop a proper sense of language. At the very least it worked for my sister and I. We could both read before we came to school and always had access to all the books we asked for. From reading to writing was just a small step.
Few people actually possess the will to work, whether it is solving a quiz, achieving goals or building character. Goodness, this sounds so incredibly arrogant...
Not really. I could read before I was in school as well, and furthermore had memorized the books my parents read to me before bed after only a few times hearing them. I'd frighten the babysitters by telling them they missed a part or page, or getting out the book and "reading" to them. ^_
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Oh wait. Spell check doesn't recognize that one. Darn. Guess I'll have to fall back on that old "I learned to spell in grade school" thing, huh? ^_~
Edit: *sigh* I can spell. I just can't use the right words. >_
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I am sincerely glad for you that you were blessed with a natural ability to know how things are spelled. Really, I am. My mother is like that; basically a human dictionary. There are many normal people, though, who are not, myself included. I have misspelled two and three syllable words many, many times, no matter how commonly they are used. I didn't slack in school and I am most certainly not lazy or unintelligent, but the way you worded that makes me feel more than a bit dumb for being guilty of it. Just because you can do it easily doesn't mean that everyone else can. I never said anything about handing out undeserved grades for effort, either. I loathe that trend ( ... )
Reply
My basic point was that the girl in question was using t9 texting for the purpose of making sure she was spelling things correctly so she could (I assume) sound like an intelligent person. I don't see what's wrong with that and I even identify with her because I commonly have to pause and check myself (or FireFox checks for me when I've guessed a spelling incorrectly) when I spell common words. It's not because I didn't pay attention in school, and it's not because I never "learned how to spell instead of using spell check". I'm an intelligent person. I maintained a 4.0+ all through high school and a 3.86 in college, had all the academic awards and honors, blah blah blah... I just can't spell all that well. And again, I'm not talking about the extremes like our exes who are ridiculously horrendous at it. I just mean people who are intelligent and paid attention in school but just aren't talented when it comes to spelling. Maybe I'm just being optimistic, but I don't believe spell check is a crutch for the majority of ( ... )
Reply
Nobody these days writes by hand any more and when you have a computer, you have spell check, online dictionaries and the likes withing easy reach, so you don't have to memorize the correct spelling. Sometimes you don't even care because you are writing in an informal way and the recipient doesn't even care if what you write is spelled correctly. Case in point: netsqueakspeak.
It's the same with mental arithmetic. Nobody does it anymore, because every school kid has a pocket calculator or a cellphone to do the math for them.
These days you no longer have to memorize information, you just have to know how to find it.
Reply
It's one thing when people try and just have trouble retaining the info. It's another when they don't even put in effort because everything is handed to them. Granted, I took as little math in school as possible, but you better believe I know enough to get me through each and every day.
Reply
Few people actually possess the will to work, whether it is solving a quiz, achieving goals or building character. Goodness, this sounds so incredibly arrogant...
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